Holy Week 2011

Holy Week approached with all of its grandeur. Almost every night there was a procession: Our Lady of Sorrows on Holy Monday, the Encounter on Holy Tuesday, the Transfer of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday, the Passion play, and the Good Friday Procession. Teaching the Old Testament this year completely gave me a new outlook and perspective on these processions. At first I always thought they were a bit strange as they paraded a bunch of statues around town, but after I looked at them through the eyes of the Old Testament, they took on greater meaning. These processions gave the Catholics of Benque Viejo del Carmen an identity – it was a cultural manifestation of the Catholic Faith in Benque, it set them apart. What God was doing in the Old Testament might have seemed strange to an outsider – the spreading of blood to a doorpost, sprinkling blood on the people, circumcision, parading the ark of the covenant seven times around the walls of Jericho, the making of a bronze serpent, etc… but what God was doing was forming these people as His own. He was giving them their own culture, their own identity as the people of God. The other concept that comes into play is the concept of a “memorial.” A memorial to a Jewish person was much more than just having something that helps you remember what happened in the past, no, to a Jewish person a memorial was doing something similar or having something similar to an act that was done in the past but through that act those things of the past are made present. This I why every time Jews celebrate the Passover, they refer to it as happening “this night.” That memorial made that act of history present. This is why Jesus said at the Last Supper, “Do this in memory of me.” He was asking that the act of the Last Supper be done as a memorial so that every time you ate the bread or drank the cup you proclaimed and made present His death. So the Last Supper, the Passion, Death, and Resurrection are all made present at every single Mass. When the processions in Benque occur, and they parade a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows encountering Christ carrying His Cross in the middle of town, that act becomes present in the streets of Benque. Those graces of that moment are brought alive in our small little town. His saving acts are made present to us in that moment.

At Easter Vigil, four students were baptized and confirmed, and five received their First Holy Communion. This is testimony that Christ is still at work today. He is alive! He is Risen indeed! God continues to act and work in His people and make His presence known to His people. These students heard His call and they responded with grace to His invitation to enter into His family, into His Church. I had the privilege of becoming the padrino – or godfather – to two of the girls baptized. I was so blest and moved by what the Lord was doing in their lives. I felt instantly connected to them as they had living water poured over their heads to enter into Christ’s death and Resurrection. Tears ran down one of their eyes as sanctifying grace entered their soul. They wrote, “That night I was filled with joy and love!” He is Risen indeed!